Mon, Oct 9th: IN-PERSON “AI Ethics," 6 PM MDT, In-Person, CU Boulder

The Rocky Mountain AI Interest Group (RMAIIG) will host an in-person meeting on Monday, October 9th at 6 PM MDT in Boulder on “AI Ethics."

Our speakers will delve into the myriad ethical considerations
surrounding artificial intelligence, providing insights into their
work and sharing their perspectives on this vital issue.

Please join us in the ATLAS building (Room 100), located on CU Boulder’s campus on Monday, October 9th at 6 PM MDT. Capacity is about 150 attendees. 1125 18th St, Boulder, CO 80309. We are working on a possible Zoom option as well.

Our first speaker is Professor Diane Sieber who has served as Director of the Herbst Program of Engineering, Ethics and Society as well as Associate Dean for Education in the College of Engineering at the CU Boulder, and as Co-Director of the ATLAS (Alliance for Technology, Learning and Society) Institute. Her research areas include two eras of technology-driven communication revolution: Renaissance Europe immediately post printing press, and the current networked digital age. Her recent work includes studies of learning through online social networks, cognition and learning in game worlds, ChatGPT for equitable teaching and learning, AI-generated art education, and the role of games in the education of princes in early modern Europe. Dr. Sieber is a President’s Teaching Scholar and a Carnegie Teaching Scholar.

Our second speaker is Robert Monaco, who is a passionate advocate for the responsible and ethical development and deployment of AI. With industry experience collaborating with IBM on AI initiatives, he has spent the last six months deeply immersed in the intersection of AI and ethics. Robert believes in a human-centric approach to AI, emphasizing the importance of maintaining our unique human qualities like empathy and shared experiences in an era of increasing machine intelligence. He recently completed a seminar at Cornell Law on "Business Ethics and Technology", where he gained insights he is eager to share. Robert is of the opinion that ethics, being intrinsically human, should guide our interactions with all technologies, including AI. His vision for the future aligns more with Star Trek than Star Wars. Robert aspires to foster collaborative discussions among industry, government, and academia to address these pivotal issues.

We are working out the specifics of each talk, but some of the key topics our esteemed panelists may cover include:

Fairness and Bias in AI: How can we ensure AI systems treat all
individuals fairly and avoid perpetuating societal biases?

Privacy and Security: How do we balance the need for data to improve
AI systems with the imperative to protect individual privacy?

Transparency and Explainability: How can we make AI systems more
transparent and understandable, not just for users, but regulators and
society at large?

Accountability: Who should be held responsible when an AI system
causes harm, and how should that responsibility be determined?

Future of Work: How can we prepare for and mitigate the impacts of AI
on employment and job displacement?

Existential Risk: Will AI systems surpass the human species in
collective intelligence, and what will happen on a societal level if
they do?

Free pizza will be sponsored by one of our own members - an appreciative RMAIIG participant who’s enjoyed the pizzas others have sponsored. What a kind and thoughtful gesture! Special thanks to our mystery donor.

We want to thank the following for generously arranging and providing an awesome meeting space for RMAIIG: Grace Wilson, John Bacus, Mark D. Gross, the University of Colorado and the Roser ATLAS Center at CU Boulder.

Image credit: Robert Monaco, using AI tools.